Posted on 12/17/2005 2:50:29 PM PST by safisoft
U.S. Violates Ban Against Funding Hamas
00:15 Dec 18, '05 / 17 Kislev 5766
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The American government's Agency for International Development has given the Hamas-controlled village of Bani Suhaila $392,000 for road projects, according to Middle East Newsline. It quoted the mayor of the town, where Hamas won 12 out of 13 seats in recent local elections, that he expects more projects for funding.
Last May, David Satterfield, number two man in the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs bureau, declared that the Bush administration "will neither recognize nor engage with" Hamas or Hizbollah members who are elected to office and do not disarm.
FBI director Robert Mueller told senators earlier this year that the U.S. is trying to stop fund-raising efforts by Arab terrorists. "We are committed to cutting off the flow of funds from the United States to Palestinian terrorist organizations," Mueller told a Senate committee. He noted that front "charity" organizations for Hamas have been indicted.
American officials have not issued any statements on its own financing of the Hamas town in Gaza, but State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Friday, "Hamas is a terrorist organization. And to my knowledge, we don't have--I'm not aware of any contact between U.S. officials and those individuals.... It's a terrorist organization. We don't deal with it."
The House of Representatives passed a resolution by a 397-17 vote on Friday warning the PA that it may face a cut in aid if it does not require Hamas and other terrorist organizations to disarm.
The State Department's recent policy on Hamas has been that it is against its members participating in the Palestinian Authority (PA) legislative elections slated for January 15 but that the matter is an internal PA issue.
Officials have consistently side-stepped reporters' questions on whether the U.S. will cut back funds to the PA if Hamas wins enough seats to become part of a coalition government.
McCormack said on Friday, "Well, let's, you know, first of all, let's let the elections take place...."
Meanwhile, Hamas has supplied other Arab terrorists with improved missiles, according to Middle East Newsline. It quoted military sources saying that the weapons have been delivered to terrorist gangs affiliated with the ruling Fatah party as well as the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.
"Formally, Hamas has pledged to honor a ceasefire arranged by the Palestinian Authority," Newsline quoted a military source. "So, rather than fire the Kassams themselves, they give them to their terrorist allies."
Arab terrorists this week fired two rockets which hit near Ashkelon, one of them exploding in an industrial area on the southern edge of the city. A huge power plant which supplies electricity to southern Israel is located nearby. The coastal city of Ashkelon also has a naval base, port and oil terminal.
The Hamas terrorist organization began in the 1980s as a Moslem fundamentalist alternative to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headed by Yasser Arafat. It was based on social welfare programs and terrorism and uses drug trafficking and car thefts as a source of funds.
Who has oversight of the Agency for International Development?
I believe it is the State Department.
ping
The U.S. Government - with a Republican House, Senate, and President, no less - spent almost $400,000 of our tax dollars (rather, $400,000 borrowed against many more of our future tax dollars) to build roads in Palestinian territories.
Boy, that makes me eager to hurry to the polls and vote GOP next year.
I just checked. It is an Independent Agency in the Federal Executive.
Thank you State Dept and Rice! The money will be diverted to a hidden bank account to buy more weapons to use against innocents.
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Yes! A couple of us very briefly discussed this the other day (comments #8 and #10).
Hamas scores big in local elections
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1541366/posts
"The United States, the international donor community and the World Bank stand ready to work with Palestinians on a major project of economic reform and development. The United States, the EU, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund are willing to oversee reforms in Palestinian finances, encouraging transparency and independent auditing."
"The new international Task Force on Reform, which is comprised of representatives of the U.S., EU, UN Secretary General, Russia, Japan, Norway, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and which works under the auspices of the Quartet, will strive to develop and implement a comprehensive action plan for reform."
AID, America's corruption rat hole.
Not quite correct the PA has killed over 50 American citizens over here. The State Department is ignoring that too. Without Americas money, the terrorists would be a whole lot weaker over here.
Actually they gave that half a billion bucks to someone promising to build roads. Bet a dime to a donut that no roads were ever built.
Don't care if the roads were built or not. The fact that our tax dollars were contributed to such a project is enough to show that while our current government may have a good foreign policy, it's nothing that one could label "conservative."
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